Tata Tiago Revotorq long term review: After 10,300km and eight months

The Tiago is OVERDRIVE's Compact Car of the Year 2017. Well deserved, I say! She has been impressing one and all with her design, equipment and space.

What any automotive award generally doesn't consider is the ownership experience. I have spent more than 10,000km with this compact Tata, and while the overall experience has been good, there have also been some issues. For instance, since the last report, the car went back to the service centre for another scheduled service. I had notified the service manager that the rear wiper had begun to screech, that the AC had conked off and the front left fog lamp would work intermittently. With respect to the powertrain, there were no issues but the general check-up is part of the service. The car stayed with Tata for a week as it was the Diwali period and I didn't miss her because I had the delectable Cooper S JCW for company.

However, when I picked up the car, except for the fluid top-up and the fixed fog lamp, nothing else was done. So in went the car for another unscheduled service. This time though things were tended to in a proper fashion. The AC filter was choked, which explained why it decided to fail on me when I was ferrying a car full of family members from the airport. The rear wiper blade was also changed including the entire assembly. The service manager also had all four tyre valves changed as they were leaking air.

The Tiago's AC conked off but the fault was traced to a choked air filter

All four air valves had to be replaced as they were leaking air

All was good for a few weeks with the Tiago, delighting with her fuel efficiency and cheekiness in traffic conditions. She also did two back-to-back Mumbai-Pune runs with a couple of OD staffers occupying the rear bench. Everyone appreciated the space on offer as well as the music system. My colleagues do complain that the gear lever moves quite a bit even when a gear is engaged and that the steering wheel itself rattles slightly when driven over broken roads. Both sensations take away from the overall impression of quality and durability.

The rear washer now refuses to work. The motor is functional but the fault is with the pinched water pipe

At the time of writing this, the now twice-replaced rear washer still refuses to work as the water pipe is constantly getting pinched. I, however, have a very busy month ahead of me and don't have the time to take the Tiago for another unscheduled visit to the service centre. These niggles will have to wait till the scheduled 15,000km service.

Date acquired: May 2016

Total mileage: 10,300km

Last report at: 5,872km

Fuel: 244 litres

Economy: 18.2kmpl